Stuck!

Mom turns away for 10 seconds:


"a little help here?!":

Enjoying the warmth

What a beautiful day out! 69 degrees this afternoon...wha?! Is this really winter?
To celebrate we headed to Happy Hollow.

Here she is giving kisses and telling secrets to the warthog wearing pearls and high heels.


On a cat throne:


"hey! You hear me, buddy?!":


She is looking sweet but is actually plotting how quickly she can remove her hat.


Xoi for dinner!


Rosie and her book mobile. Come check out a book!


She even makes book suggestions.

Flashback

Our friend L sent this picture today. Rosie's so little, curious and chubby cheeked!

addendum to "chúc mừng năm mới"

...reminiscing...

Tết 2011, Year of the Cat

Tết 2012, Year of the Dragon

chúc mừng năm mới

 Happy New Year
Chúc mừng năm mới

 Doing a Tết dance:

  

Then after 5 minutes we reached the all-too-familiar stage of ao dai-wearing: the itchy neck! Or is it the inner dragon coming out?!

Snapshot 1.22.12

Spent the afternoon watching the 49ers game at Vavôs'. Auntie and cousin A hung out too!

happy birth day Cousin Jacob! and special visitors

Jacob Chí Lê

Rosie's has a new cousin! Welcome to the world, Jacob! We got a call from Auntie A and Uncle M on Thursday letting us know they were on their way to the hospital. Thirty hours later the amazing news came of a healthy and beautiful Jacob - 8lbs, 7.5oz and 22 in of sweetness. We couldn't stop staring at pictures of Jacob, and Rosie couldn't resist giving him some love:

We are so very happy for the three of them and can't wait to be able to give our love in person soon.


We were able to celebrate the good news with Di T-H and Uncle C who were in town from Hong Kong. We were so happy we could spend the day with them. Rosie played with her new koala buddy Caleb, a gift from Di and Uncle all the way from Sydney; took a walk around Willow Glen once the rain cleared up; and satisfied some hard-to-get-in-HK food cravings (pancakes, chicken & waffles, bun bo, pho!). Rosie did not hold back the kisses to her Di and Uncle!

**BONUS VIDEO**
Head, shoulders, knees, and toes is the new big hit! Apparently toes are especially exciting:

14 month birthday

Rosie highlights of month 14:

• Walking! A while back Rosie took her first steps but then we didn't see much for a few weeks. Just last week Rosie mustered up the confidence to walk, with the help and security of DaddyO's outstretched arms. She doesn't often initiate walking on her own yet and is still quite wobbly, but she did manage to stop on a dime and u-turn the other day. Most of the time her wobbliness seems to come from the fact that she wants to run to her destination! Slow down, baby girl!
• Kisses. Rosie has learned to pucker up and now gives the sweetest kisses (with suction!). She loves to give kisses to family, friends, and her stuffed animals. She also continues to spread joy by blowing kisses to anyone around.
• Dancing! Rosie LOVES to dance! Give her some phat beats and she will shake her hips, nod her head, and even waver her hands in the air.
• Climbing. Rosie loves to climb! Give her a chain-linked fence or a set of stairs and she is one happy baby. She has also mastered climbing down and (more or less) can lower herself off a bed, the couch, or a slide with ease!
• Babbling. Rosie had what we consider her first words: mom, dad, and wow! She is talking more and experiments with new sounds. One consistent sound she makes is her bark whenever she sees a dog.
• Cleaning up. For months now Rosie has been mastering the art of unpacking: her dresser, cupboards, her toy bins. But now, with some encouragement, Rosie will gladly help put things back, albeit slowly.

It has been exciting to see Rosie learn at such an exponential rate. She recognizes new words every day, mimics our gestures, and seems to have a growing sense of humor and can be playfully dramatic. She is such a little bundle of joy and loves to spread her happiness to anyone who will make eye contact.

Band practice

Catching up

We're back after a brief hiatus!

Rosie super emo during a trip to SF (she was super tired and fighting her nap):


Short break for beverages. We ventured up to SF on a culinary adventure but got denied. Twice! That's what we get for listening to something from a tv show.


Monday we had lunch with the Vavôs. Rosie was being super cute, which can be quite tiring. It called for a staircase nap:


Rosie was sad to leave and was a bit fussy in the car. It turns out banana was not the cure. She woke up to find smooshed dried banana on her face and was quite upset about it:



I'm not sure who the head of Carter's baby clothes is, but apparently they are obsessed with puting cute things on baby bottoms. Rosie pulls it off pretty well, but really come on.


Video of Rosie's walking. Notice at one point how she taps her feet like she's revving her engines!

Walking, banana-eating, bugging out

1. DaddyO and Rosie were hard at work practicing Rosie's strut. And what better motivation than a handsome dad with a cracker!

2. Yesterday was beautiful so we hung out on the stoop and snacked on banana. There's something about this that makes Rosie seems so grown up.


3. Today we went back to Happy Hollow. Rosie was really loving the rides. And everything turned into a ride. Rosie took to climbing the fences, which took me off guard. Here she is in a bug ride. She had the place all to herself! She kicked and screamed when I took her off.

Twin Uncle part deux

It turns out Rosie and Uncle M were in the same wavelength on Sunday!

Testing

Second Sunday Hike: Rancho San Antonio

We set out this morning to meet up with friends at Rancho San Antonio. Up for the adventure: Uncle M, Baby C and family, Baby K and family, and Baby G and family. Meet up time was 10 am, but parking was a pain in the neck so we lounged near the meet up spot until everyone found parking.

 

We climbed up the hill side quickly to enjoy the view of the bay and the valley. It was clear enough to see past SF and into Marin.

 Rosie fell asleep in baby P's awesome hand-me-over pack.

 The hike down the hill was gorgeous with plenty of shady knolls, bridges, a winding brook and arching bay trees. The trail led us to Deer Hollow farm where Rosie enjoyed the pigs, chickens, rabbit, goats, cow, ducks and sheep.

We made our way back to the car. Rosie didn't want to get in the carseat, but moments later the trip took its toll and she fell asleep.

We are so lucky to have so many great friends. Thanks for making the second Sunday hike a success.

 

p.s. The handy dandy blog app on Vi's phone has decided to be dysfunctional so it may slow down our blogging, but we will resolve this problem as quickly as possible!

Mind over orange matter

Today we spent the afternoon with the Vavôs. Rosie was in amazing good spirits. She loves giving kisses and emptying out the kitchen drawers. One treasure she found was one of Vavó's aprons so we played a little dress up:

 After having a lunch feast we headed to Costco for team effort shopping. On the way Rosie was deep in thought. Probably about the upcoming New Hampshire primaries.

So we discovered the next best thing to Disneyland...Costco! Rosie had a blast. She rode in the cart Titanic-I'm-the-king-of-the-world-style, waving to the masses, noshing on samples, and making silly faces. At the end she was finally getting tired and rested on a demo couch with Vavó where she rolled around and gave her more kisses. After saying bye to the Vavôs, we headed back to San Jose where Rosie fell asleep within seconds. She woke up just in time to go with Daddyo to a work event at DCP. For dinner we hit up Sweet Tomatoes, which is probably runner up to Costco because Rosie gets to be loud and have her pick of pasta, cheese, and maybe sneak in some veggies. She was really digging the oranges, though it seemed to be a love-hate relationship that they formed. (this is the inspiration for the name of this post, in case you were eagerly anticipating the connection)

When we got home we gave a sleepy Rosie a bedtime bath...

...which perked her up right away. She didn't want to get out of the water but also seemed eager to cuddle up and slip off into slumberland. She's been having trouble sleeping (teeth? Who knows) but maybe all the excitement of the day will help.